Hey all!
So usually, by this point in the week, the new chapter would already be put up but I've been working crazy hours and helping with too many things to even begin to mention!
I apologise that y'all are waiting 2/3 days extra for the actual chapter, but I hope you enjoy the teaser anyways...I LOVED writing this chapter, and chapter 5, so I genuinely do hope you enjoy reading them :)
Onwards!
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Chapter 4: A Royal Engagement
Even the date had been set. No one else knew, but Edward and I had sat at either side of the fireplace in his suite one cool evening to discuss it. He had a glass of bourbon in his right hand and I folded mine atop my knee as I watched him swirl the amber liquid mindlessly. I had tried to ignore the way his eyes lingered on my ankles and moved up my bare legs. I blamed the heat I felt in my exposed skin down to the fire quietly crackling beside me. I pretended I hadn’t caught him looking, and ignored the way he tried to concentrate on the conversation again.
It was a heady feeling, knowing someone was obviously attracted to you, and wanted to spend time with you. I felt powerful in his presence, like I could make him do anything if it meant pleasing me, but for some reason I also felt vulnerable. I didn’t want him to know anything about me, scared he might use it somewhere down the line, to the extent that we always talked about him. I had gotten into the habit of changing the subject every time he asked about me or my past.
I was sure he was on to me, but each time he would just smile sadly to himself and stare into the distance. I didn’t know what he was thinking, but I wanted to. I wanted to know what he thought of me, our wedding, my family, the palace I had grown up in…but to ask him outright would be to admit to being curious, and I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of gaining my attention.
“It’s the start of May now, maybe June? Is that enough time for invitations to go out and everything else to be sorted?” he’d asked me softly, his eyes very much on mine.
“It’s a Royal wedding. If we announced it to be at the end of next week everyone would still show up. And I was assured my dress would be ready within a month, that was the only thing that was going to take a long time,” I’d replied. I’d given my order – as it were – almost two weeks prior, so June would work.
“How about the twentieth?” I’d asked. For some reason the date had been floating around in my head for weeks, and I had no idea why. I’d checked every diary I still had in my possession and the calendars around the palace to see if there was anything special about it, but I couldn’t find anything.
Edward had looked surprised as he answered me. “The twentieth of June? Why?”
He’d looked away quickly when I shrugged. “I don’t know really. It’s been stuck in my head for a while. We can choose another day if you don’t like it.”
His piercing gaze landed on me and I’d fidgeted under its intensity. He looked like he was trying to figure me out, like maybe I was lying about something, and I wasn’t sure what he’d find.
“No, I guess the twentieth isn’t any different from any other day. We’ll go with the twentieth.”
Once again, his eyes had held that faraway sadness I’d come to know, but got nowhere closer to understanding why. It was like everything I said, everything I did, and most importantly, everything I didn’t say or do, made him sad.
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Should be up on Saturday folks!!
xx
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